Steve Wiener Dies: Cineworld Founder Was 73

Steve Wiener, who founded the UK-based exhibition chain Cineworld and spent 19 years at its helm, has died at the age of 73.

The New York-born exhibition executive – who spent 44 years working in the cinema business having started out as an usher – originally moved to the UK in 1992 as managing director for Warner Bros. cinemas in Europe.

Prior to this role, he was Vice President Of Operations at Plitt Theatres for a decade, running the Plitt and RKO cinemas in the greater New York and New Jersey areas.

Wiener decided to branch out on his own and set up Cineworld in 1995, kicking off with the opening of the chain’s first cinema in the town of Stevenage, some 20 miles north of London, in 1996.

Talking about his original ambitions for the then 100-site Cineworld chain ahead of his departure as head of the company in 2014, Wiener said its growth had way exceeded his expectations.

“In 1995, my wife Jenny and I wrote a business plan to start a cinema company,” he recalled.

“We expected over a five-year period to open five to seven multiplex cinemas and sell it on to one of the big operators. Today, in 2013, Cineworld is the number one cinema chain in the UK and has been for more than three years.”

Cineworld and its 34 multiplexes were acquired by the Blackstone private equity group in 2004 for £120m, with Wiener remaining at the helm.

Wiener then oversaw Cineworld’s acquisition of the UK and Ireland operations of French cinema company UGC in 2005, comprising another 42 multiplex sites, for £120m ($168m), as well as the addition of the Picturehouse Cinema chain to its portfolio in 2012.  

Blackstone floated Cineworld in April 2007, making £88m ($113m) as it reduced its stake, and gradually divesting itself of the company from 2009 to 2011, making another $160m in the process.

Prior to his departure, Wiener also set in motion the chain’s first move into continental Europe with the acquisition of Spain’s fifth-largest cinema chain, Cinesur Circuito Sanchez-Ramade.

Weiner was a regular interviewee in the business pages of the London papers throughout the 2000s and 2010s, especially as Cineworld rode high on the back of the Harry Potter movie franchise, talking about his innovative plans for the chain.

Tributes flooded in from the UK film industry with the UK Film Association describing Wiener as a central figure in the recent history of the UK cinema sector.

“Those of us lucky enough to know and work with Steve will remember his easy-going manner but also his incredibly sharp business mind. I personally was very grateful for the support he offered me when I joined the Association as a complete newbie in 2007,” said UK Cinema Association Chief Executive Phil Clapp.

“The response to the sad news of Steve’s passing from all quarters of our industry speaks volumes about the extent to which he was liked, admired and respected by everyone with whom he worked or did business,” he continued.

“The recurrent themes of those tributes are ones of kindness, honesty and integrity coupled with enviable business acumen and intelligence. Steve was a towering figure in the recent history of the cinema sector not just in the UK but more widely, and many of the innovations he pioneered have shaped the experience of cinema-goers to this day,” he added.